Dana White made comments about you not being ranked in the top 10, whatâs your take on his comments.
Dana is entitled to his own opinion and has some valid arguments to claim his case but I donât feel that they are that strong.
What do you think of those arguments he makes
You know, heâs claiming that I didnât defeat anybody thatâs in the top 10 so why should you rank me. Thatâs true but the fact of the matter is that Iâm a very active fighter and you can see that Iâm a different fighter then I was at 205lbs. Iâm undefeated since 2008 when I became heavyweight and even more important I have finished all the fights in the first round but then again Dana is president of a company so heâs going to say stuff like that. To be honest it doesnât bother me because I can make a good case for being in the top 10.
And what are your arguments for your case?
First of all he was telling that I didnât fight anybody in the top 10, thatâs not entirely true. When I defended my title against Brett Rogers, Rogers was considered top 10 after he defeated a former number 2 or 3 fighter Arlovski. I was not in the top 10 at the time and when I defeated Brett Rogers I enter the virtual rankings. Now everybody is saying that Brett Rogers shouldnât have been in the top 10 in the first place but thatâs the same as saying Brock doesnât deserve a spot on number two. After what Cain did to Brock itâs silly to give Brock a top 5 spot, but thatâs my opinion. Heâs still a good fighter but having a 5-2 record and almost losing to Carwin and having wins over Herring, Couture and Mir (which he lost to as well) is not something that Iâm very impressed about. Iâm not going to call the media stupid like Dana but let me put it this way; how can a real M.M.A. insider put a Brock Lesnar above Fedor Emelianenko or even JDS. The fact of the matter is I like that people are debating the rankings but I donât take them that seriously.
Why donât you take them seriously?
You know when I heard that Brett Rogers was a top 10 fighter and I wasnât ranked I thought he was the favorite going into the fight. Then a friend of my called and told me that he was going to bet on me but that I was the favorite and the odds where in my favor. So if the bookmakers donât even use the ranking then you can say that they donât mean that much. The same thing before the Brock vs Cain fight. I saw a preview article and most of the fans and other fighters thought that Cain was going to win the fight, thatâs strange if the ranking put him number one and the organization calls him the âbaddest man on the planetâ.
If you can make the ranking yourself what does the ranking look like?
Iâm not going to make my own top 10 because that will create just more room for the debate and thatâs not necessary. People have to define first which criteria comes into play when creating a ranking system. Some people use only their last fight and what opposition they have fought. Other people look at skill set, talent, way of fighting and popularity. Now people tend to use both criteria and therefore you have ranking that can be heavily debated. Thatâs why Dana White is saying that I donât belong in the top 10 because he doesnât take into account my K-1 fights and doesnât think that beating one top 10 fighter is good enough for entering the ranking. On the other hand you have Bas Rutten that says that Iâm the number one heavyweight in the world. He uses my experience, potential, skill set and the way I finished fights against opposition that is not considered top 10. He also knows that my striking is improved very much and therefore uses my K-1 experience. So letâs say that the truth is somewhere in the middle. Iâm fully aware that I have to prove myself, I know I can defeat anybody so itâs my job to prove it to my fans and to my doubters.
What do you think of Danaâs claim that the best fighters fight in the UFC and fight each other 3 times a year?
Itâs not strange that Dana is making such a claim but if he really thinks that his heavyweight division is the best in the world he should let 5 heavyweights of the UFC fight 5 heavyweights from Strikeforce otherwise he canât never justify his claim that UFC has the best heavyweights in the world. My opinion in this one is that Strikeforce have a good chance of winning. They tried it when Pride was there so itâs not something new. If Strikeforce is going to have tournament format they should reserve a spot for a UFC fighter, that would be awesome. About the fact that they fight each other 3 times a year, I can only say that he has a valid point but Strikeforce is a young organization and give them the time to prove themselves. They have a great roster of fighters so Iâm confident that they will make the fights happen very soon. Iâm ready to fight 2 or 3 times in 2011!